SpaceX to attempt first Starship spacecraft recovery on land in 15th flight

Key Points:

• SpaceX plans to launch its 407-foot-tall Starship rocket at 4:45 p.m. CT from South Texas for its 15th flight since 2023, carrying operational Starlink satellites in a mission that aims to both generate revenue and test the rocket still in development.
• As of Friday morning, SpaceX had not yet received a launch license from the FAA, which typically issues licenses a day before Starship launches; the FAA had not commented on the status.
• The mission expects to recover both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage, with the upper stage returning about 22 hours after launch, marking a potential breakthrough in making Starship a reliable, rapidly reusable rocket.
• SpaceX aims to achieve a weekly Starship launch cadence by mid-2027 and plans to begin launches from a new Florida pad by the end of 2026, with NASA having invested $3.2 billion in Starship's development for its Artemis moon program.
• NASA and SpaceX target landing humans on the moon by 2028, though key testing milestones like in-orbit fuel transfers remain, while Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander is also developing for Artemis missions, with a docking test scheduled for next year.